GAO study on CAP

[RiverAux]

The July issue of the Open Cockpit has this:

Government Accountability Office (GAO) Study of CAP: The GAO, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, is conducting a congressionally mandated study received from the House Appropriations Homeland Security (HLS) Subcommittee to evaluate (1) CAP's current missions and resources and its capacity to take on additional HLS related responsibilities; (2) the extent to which
CAP and the Department of HLS currently coordinate missions and activities; and (3) the extent that CAP and the Department of HLS have assessed the potential costs, benefits and feasibility of using CAP more for various missions. This study is ongoing and will involve site visits and interviews at the wing and squadron levels. CAP units will be notified in an appropriate manner from CAP NHQ of any impending visits.

First one of these in a while. 

[a2capt]

Sounds ominous ... and loaded with possible opportunities, which could be a good thing.

[RiverAux]

My memory could be failing me, but this could relate to that CAP Homeland Security bill from a couple of years ago. 

[krnlpanick]

Is this article available online?

[lordmonar]

My memory could be failing me, but this could relate to that CAP Homeland Security bill from a couple of years ago.

That's what I am thinking....IIRC it was budgeted two years ago...and at the speed the GAO works...sounds about right that they are just now starting it.

[FW]

^yep. 

[sparks]

Here's a link to the house bill ;  http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr1178

[MSG Mac]

The HR cited required a completed report back to Congress within 180 days of passage. This should have been resolved a long time ago.

[ZigZag911]

Nothing ominous here for CAP; Congress is (or at least was!) trying to get DHS to use available resources and personnel in order to curtail spending.

[scooter]

The more HLS uses CAP, the less they will use current contractors. guess who has the most money to get their way!

[lordmonar]

The more HLS uses CAP, the less they will use current contractors. guess who has the most money to get their way!

?

[sardak]

Here's an interesting GAO report: Effectiveness and Morale of the Colorado Wing of the Civil Air Patrol   http://gao.gov/products/LCD-76-416

Mike

[krnlpanick]

Pretty interesting read - would be interesting to see the difference between the survey responses now and in 1976

[scooter]

The more HLS uses CAP, the less they will use current contractors. guess who has the most money to get their way!

?

CAP cant lobby HLS and support the politicos, private business can. They cant compete with us on price but they can out lobby us.

[RiverAux]

Sure, we can lobby.  We do it all the time.  Just can't give campaign contributions.

[Flying Pig]

The more HLS uses CAP, the less they will use current contractors. guess who has the most money to get their way!

?

CAP cant lobby HLS and support the politicos, private business can. They cant compete with us on price but they can out lobby us.

First off, most of you arent going to like this.

For most of the HLS missions I see CAP trying to pursue, "free" aviation being one of the largest venues, it cant compete.  The standard that is required for all who are involved is so far above what CAP can offer that its not even arguable. 
Maybe not price, but equipment, and real world experience CAP will never be able to compete with.  Ive worked with several of these private companies who contract HLS missions and CAP could never touch what they provide in the way of equipment and experience they bring to the table.   Anyone in CAP who throws out the "but we are cheaper so pick us" argument has no clue how real world ISR missions work and the equipment it takes to make those missions run at a standard that is acceptable to the guys on the ground.  CAP has its place, but in the arena of airborne HLS and ISR, CAP just needs to push its planes back into the hangar and go home. 

CAP gets all googly eyed over some hand held digital camera that can overlay a Lat/Long on the photo or a Gippsland Airvan with some garbage in the back seat.  For those of you who are not in the business, or CAP is your only exposure to the world of HLS/ISR missions, you have no idea the total package these corporations bring to the table.  What CAP offers isnt even acceptable standard and would be just about useless in the missions that I perform and the missions I see on the horizon.  Going up and flying for weed for po-dunk county sheriff or checking a power pole or a dam once a week are feel good missions.  While CAP pats its self on the back for the missions its performing, there is a company being paid to do the important stuff people actually care about and that people arent writing articles about in Volunteer magazine.

I fly a $1.5mil surveillance aircraft for a living and have over 2200hrs of LE stick time, with about 1500hrs of surveillance time doing just about everything you can classify as "surveillance" and the equipment I have is obsolete by years compared to some of the contractors I have worked ISR with.   I am begging to get half of what these companies offer.  In fact I flew with one of these contractors today.  They fly a small light sport type airplane with glass panel instruments and an ISR system that made me want to curl up in a ball and suck my thumb and cry for mommy.  The things I was able to do with their system made me want to take a baseball bat to my airplane.  And a couple of you here have seen the plane and equipment I fly......its pretty sweet.  It was straight junk compared to what this evil contractor brought to the table.  Not to mention the air and ground experience of the people who work for him. 

Sorry, but there it is.  Feel free to toss out the "cheaper" argument.  Nobody in the real world buys it.  No different than a volunteer who showed up with an R22 helicopter yapping about how he can operate cheaper than our 2 MD500Es.  Well, of course he can.  Problem is, all he sees is us flying straight and level over the city on occasion.  He has no idea what we are doing or probably where we are headed.   So he makes his argument based on his perception of what he thinks is the mission.  The problem is that his argument only articulates his complete ignorance of what our mission really involves. 

If CAP has something to offer, then offer it.  But don't broad brush stroke these companies as greedy political lobbyists and then fall back on cheap.  Cheap doesnt cut it in the HLS roles I see these contractors performing. 

[Eclipse]

Nobody in the real world buys it.

Actually, we all buy it, literally, in the form of tax dollars, and while I have no reason to believe you are not 110% correct in regards to the tech, there's also the "need" vs. "nice" discussions that have to be had.  It's no different then the comm argument of 10's of thousands of dollars of HF gear vs. a cell phone.

CAP doesn't do "surveillance", so that's basically a red herring.  We'd all like to have CAP units flying Airwolf, but that "crappy digital camera" fulfills the mission most of the time, with the mission being some EMA director needing to have an idea how much of his AOR was just washed away, or just keeping an eye on the coast, some resource, etc., and while larger municipalities and counties may have air units, the number that do is shrinking every year as well. 

Beyond that it's all just toys and money, both of which are going to be shrinking as government budgets evaporate.

[lordmonar]

I got to throw the BS flag to Flying Pig.

Sorry....but I am deeply involved with the Green Flag mission and that was a direct competition with a regular contractor and CAP does very well in providing the same if not better service at 1/4 the price the contractor provided.

So.....depending on what service the customer wants.....CAP may be able to compete with them.
It is not as open and shut at FP is trying to make it out.

NOW....having said all that.....the GFW missions have a different mind set then your normal CAP squadrons.  So it is true...that your local Homer J. Simpson Composite Squadron is probably not set to just step in and take over a full time DHS mission.....but it can be done.

The key is to make sure that all the players know what we can and can't do, that we don't promise things we can't deliver and that we stay focused on the mission once we accept it.

[Flying Pig]

Yes...because Im sure I have an agenda.   Ill throw your BS flag right back.  Do you mean the two airplanes equipped with very specialized equipment with the very select CAP members that are allowed to participate?  Does CAP even own the equipment on those planes?  Green Flag is hardly an indicator of CAPs national footprint. 

[Eclipse]

Whether CAP owns the gear, or is still within the 15-day Walmart return policy is irrelevant.

Are we talking about the national footprint here or your AOR?  Because the scale of air ops you operate in is a lot different then most of the "real" world.